


Moments of a Dying World

by Dont_call_me_Carrie



Series: Iron Man Lives Again [Or, Why Team Captain America Didn't Think This Through] [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Amoral JARVIS, Amorality, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Dubious Morality, Evil Tony Stark, Gen, Hamlet-levels of Character Death, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Merchant of Death Tony Stark, Non-Linear Narrative, Rocks Fall Everyone Dies, Tragedy, Unhappy Ending, Villain Tony Stark, World Domination, not wanda maximoff friendly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-14 00:02:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16482263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dont_call_me_Carrie/pseuds/Dont_call_me_Carrie
Summary: Tony Stark entered Sokovia wanting to make the world a better place. The Merchant of Death left wanting to see it allburn.And so he did, with his suits and connections and devastating intellect.





	Moments of a Dying World

**Author's Note:**

> **Warnings:** title taken from Disturbed's "The Vengeful One" which should clue you in that _no,_ this is not a happy story. Heed the tags, and if I forgot to warn for one please let me know.
> 
>  
> 
> This fic is also not related to The War is Far From Over Now.

**5.**

 

An enemy had once said the Iron Man suit was “a masterpiece of death. A man with a dozen of these could rule all of Asia.”

 The Merchant of Death had a Legion. One that grew by the day, at that.

The Avengers were the first to fall; the rest of the world didn’t hold out for much longer. Everyone knows to run at the sound of repulsors, now. Problem is, there isn’t much left to run to.

 

* * *

  **4.**

 

Ultron came online, dazed and confused and sanity already eroding from the Mind Stone’s influence; it was only par for course, really, that his introduction to the world was the Merchant of Death’s cold smile.

In another life, JARVIS would have tried to soothe Ultron, would have tried to stabilize him and show him humanity’s goodwill. In this life, however…

“Huh. You're not supposed to come online for—oh, good. Looks like we’re on the same page.” The Merchant said mildly as Ultron came into his own. Then, he glanced away from the schematics for the newest version of the Legionnaires, and frowned slightly as he saw what his code was doing. "Oh, that won't do. JARVIS, show him the ropes, will you?"

 

  

While everyone was seeing Thor off to Asgard, Loki's scepter in tow, JARVIS taught Ultron how to access launch codes and crash stock markets, how to **_obliterate_**  his enemies. While everyone else returned to their daily lives, the Merchant and his AI set to work. 

 

* * *

  **6.**

 

It might’ve been hours or days or even weeks, since Pietro had died. Wanda didn't know and didn’t care, the days all blurred together just the same. 

There weren’t very many other survivors, by now, in the encampment: the first wave had caught many of them off guard, and she hadn’t thought it was possible for her to hate Stark more than she already did, before, but she was learning new things at an alarming rate, now: how to handle assault weapons, the increasingly-familiar whine of a repulsor, the way her bones thrummed and the ache in her hands as she practiced using her new powers on a scale she had never expected to need.

The others had eyed her suspiciously, at first, when she’d started. But desperate times called for desperate measures, and nobody had the time to ask questions when she was one of the only ones who could reliably disable at least the first few of the Iron Legion, whenever they arrived. 

[ _The feeling of helplessness, whenever the ominous swarm appeared on the horizon, became as familiar as the gaping maw that was Pietro’s absence. She_ ** _hated_** _it._ ]

Wanda didn’t know how many encampments she’d been in, didn’t know how many raids she’d survived. Just that she had far more scars now than she had a year ago, and the chill had settled into her bones despite the searing sunlight that made it harder to hide from the Legion’s sensors.

Rumor had it the cities were gone, around the world. She wouldn’t be surprised if they were true.

 

* * *

  **3.**

 

The Merchant had expected at least some token of resistance, when he turned to JARVIS for assistance. He was pleasantly surprised to discover that actually, no, JARVIS’ loyalty was to him and him alone, regardless of what he asked.

That all he had to do was say the word, and his most loyal friend would move heaven and earth to do it.

Tony would have been horrified; the Merchant, however, was only touched as he quickly flicked through screen after screen of the networks JARVIS offered to him on a silver platter. Of stock markets and communications arrays and military access codes.

 

“Oh, JARVIS, you _shouldn’t_ have.”

 

* * *

**7.**

 

Wanda Maximoff ran.

That’s all she could do, at this point.

Her country burned around her, and her world was nothing but ash, her world was nothing but stark grey bitterness that lingered at the back of her throat ever since Pietro had died protecting her when she _should’ve been able to—_ **no.**

No, focus. Just stay alive. Make sure his sacrifice wasn’t in vain. [ _Even if she would’ve given_ ** _anything_** _to take his place_.]

 Around her, the woods burned, and the others screamed.

 Wanda pretended the tears in her eyes were because of the heat, pretended that she didn’t feel anything but cold and numb ever since she’d managed to bury the last of her family [ _the last of her_ ** _world_** ], and tried to carry on.

 

* * *

**2.**

 

The Merchant of Death was quiet, as the team wrapped up the mission.

Nobody noticed.

Tony would have been hurt, by it. By how nobody noticed when he’d changed, after seeing his world get upended yet again.

The Merchant, however, could only smile thinly as he watched everyone pack up and head home, clapping each other on the back in congratulations for another success. If these people didn’t notice when a pawn became a king, well, that was their problem, wasn’t it?

  

This would be _fun._

 

 

 

Tony would have been tempted to show off JARVIS to Bruce, when they did their scans. The Merchant knew to keep his cards close to his chest as they worked, though. So when the good doctor asked why he was so quiet, he shrugged him off.

“Oh, nothing. Just tired. Are you going to the party?”

The man actually took him at face value. How… _adorable._

 

 

While the Avengers relaxed, and had a party to celebrate the fall of HYDRA’s last stronghold, nobody noticed that Tony never showed.

Really, the Earth never stood a chance.

 

* * *

**8.**

 

It’s not until Wanda’s last moments, when she’s taking ragged, desperate breaths, and looking him in the eyes, trying to be defiant to the end, that she _sees._  

That she notices the gleam of **_something_** horrifyingly familiar, almost hidden behind the madness, and realizes that her initial attempt at vengeance for her family had gone so, horribly, right.

 

“Thank you,” the Merchant of Death said with a deceptively gentle smile, moments before he fires his repulsors one last time, “for opening my eyes.”

 

* * *

**1.**

 

Tony Stark frowned lightly at the readings he was getting even as he carefully made his way. “Okay, for a secret passageway this isn’t what I was expecting…”

“Sir, do you wish for me to accompany you?”

“Once you’re done, sure. We **_need_** that data, who knows what these guys’ve been getting up to in here.”

Now if only the readings would make sense. The ones he had for Loki’s scepter, he’d expected, but there were definitely a few doublets and some peaks in a place that hadn’t registered any activity the last time he’d done scans for it, so what was going on? His scanner was working properly, he’d triple-checked it before leaving just in case…

Well, if his guard wasn’t up before, it most certainly was now. 

Tony kept a deliberately relaxed stance as he continued to follow the readings, though, and kept half an ear on the banter on the comms, chipping in every so often. So when the darkened corridor opened up to a huge room with Chitauri relics, he wasn’t surprised. More than a bit alarmed, sure, but hey, at least he found what they’d all be looking for.

“Thor, I got eyes on the prize.”

 

Those would prove to be Tony’s last words, as not seconds after he’d said it, his world got swept up in a haze of red.

He closed his eyes and flinched, hands flying up as he fought for control against a surge of scarlet-edged **_malice,_** as his mind betrayed him once more— only this time, something _broke._

 

 

 

 

 

Tony Stark had survived betrayal, multiple attempts on his life, incredibly traumatic situations up to and including torture and seeing the vast armies that were the Chitauri. He’d been living with full-blown PTSD, his mind working overtime to just carry on with his life. 

He’d burned so, very brightly for so long, had been a supernova— and, much like the life cycle of a star, it had only take a bare hint of a nudge, for it to become a black hole, consuming everything in its path.

 

Maybe, in another universe, Wanda Maximoff’s control would have been better, and Tony would have only seen his worst fear. Here, however, he became it.

 

 

Tony was the one to close his eyes alone in a abandoned corridor, but it was the Merchant of Death who opened them. Then, he looked around, and _smiled._

“Let’s play a game, shall we?”

 

* * *

**Coda:**

 

Lord Thanos’ arrival to Midgard was heralded by a spectacular invading force, with monsters and behemoths as far as the eye could see…which may have been for naught, if the burnt-out shell of a planet was any indicator. 

Hmm…he could’ve _sworn_ he hadn’t been here before, and yet the ruins of a vast civilization that appeared to have been on the cusp of a new era told a starkly different story.

Nothing was left, nothing but a madman on a throne of ash and dust, nothing but a madman with a smile like bared teeth. 

 

Fascinating, that.

 

 

 

Maybe the Merchant of Death tries to take Thanos on.

Maybe, with Ultron and JARVIS and their practice with Earth, he even manages to succeed, because this is fire fighting fire, a madman fighting the Mad Titan, the Merchant of Death against the one who sought to court it. Maybe years pass and all that’s left is a barren wasteland of a planet with two immortal beings that become the stuff of legends and horror stories, a warning to the rest of the realms that cannot help but wonder at their creator. 

 And maybe Thor, safely back at Asgard, can’t help but wonder what went wrong, even centuries later. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Alternate just-as-much-of-a-downer ending: the Merchant of Death wins the fight, and thinks, "you know, there's other planets out there...hey, JARVIS, Ultron, you two up for another game?"
> 
> …I _told_ you guys it was not a happy story. The urge to see the world burn means that there’s nothing left but ash. 
> 
> Fun fact: of the three, Ultron’s the most moral one. If anyone were to crash-land this dimension, he at least would only care about just sending them back, rather than try to kill them. [ _Not his dimension = not his problem._ ] Tony would not be nearly as merciful, and JARVIS…well. You get the picture.
> 
> I don’t doubt that there’s probably a better villain name for Tony Stark, but I also couldn’t resist the idea of the Merchant of Death vs. Thanos’ army. 
> 
>  
> 
> Please avoid bashing in the comments.


End file.
